SE Rally Comes Up Short Against SAU

Box Score DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern erased a double-digit second half deficit to get within one point, but was unable to complete the rally, falling to Southern Arkansas 57-53 on Saturday afternoon in Bloomer Sullivan Arena.
 
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 12-8 overall on the year and 9-5 in Great Americna Conference play.
 
Shelby Hill paced SE with 12 points, going 4-for-4 from the floor, including a 3-for-3 effort from long range.
 
Emily Williams saw her streak of 20-point games end at four, finishing Saturday's contest with 11 points, all of which came in the second half.
 
Kaylie Baxter, Cheree Kiser and Natalie Ruud each added six in the loss.
 
Baxter pulled down a team-best eight boards, while Williams was next in line with five.
 
Williams also dished out a team-high four assists.
 
Southeastern shot 32.0 percent from the field, while SAU hit 38.3 percent.
 
The Storm cashed in on 19 Mulerider turnovers and held a 20-11 edge in points off turnovers, but SAU countered with a 19-7 advantage in second chance points.
 
Hill hit a three to open scoring in the game, but SAU would answer with an 11-1 run to take an 11-4 lead by the 14:29 mark.
 
Free throws on consecutive Storm possessions would cut that back to four points, but SAU again answered and pushed the lead to nine points.
 
SE would get as close as four points over the remainder of the half before settling on a 28-22 halftime deficit.
 
Williams drained a three to open the second half and by the 16:35 mark of the second half the game was knotted at 30-30 after a Baxter layup.
 
SAU answered with six-straight points, eventually pushing the lead out to 48-37 with 9:12 to play.
 
SE still trailed by 10 points with less than eight minutes to play when a pair of Wilkiams free throws kicked off an 11-2 run that was capped by a Hill three that cut the deficit to 52-51 with 3:10 to play.
 
That was as close as it would get as SAU would score five of the game's last seven points for the 57-53 final.